Newt picks up pace in N.H. campaign

HUDSON, N.H. — Newt Gingrich was the first candidate to arrive in New Hampshire from Iowa — in the middle of the night early last Wednesday morning — and he’s barely stopped moving since.

The former House speaker has kept a busy schedule of multiple events per day, each following a simple pattern: He speaks for at least 30 minutes, then takes questions for another 30 minutes. At every stop, he remains to shake hands and take pictures with everyone who wants. He punctuates each day with a rush of cable and other news appearances.

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And at least once a day, sometimes more, he holds a press conference when he’s done.

He intensified that pace Monday, campaigning from an early morning event through the end of the day, talking to the press after two of them, and appearing on television at stops throughout. Counting the morning television interviews, it was a 15-hour campaign day. That included one abruptly canceled event late in the day — a stop at his headquarters in Manchester — after Ron Paul supporters and Occupy protesters filled the sidewalk outside.

Gingrich has been making ample use of his many appearances. On Monday, for example, he laid on several coats in his efforts to paint Romney as a corporate raider for his record at Bain Capital.

“My guess is that at some point in the next week or 10 days, he’s going to have to have a press conference and just answer a lot of questions,” Gingrich said.

And he used his extra time with reporters to take another swing, continuing his attack on Romney for being a moderate who raised taxes as governor and hitting his abortion record.

“You reminded me, I think it was in their debate, Teddy Kennedy said at one point to Romney, ‘It’s not that you’re pro-choice or anti-choice, it’s that you’re multiple choice,’” he told a small gathering in Dover, referring to Romney’s 1994 Senate bid.

Gingrich’s approach to New Hampshire is a stark change from the lackadaisical pace he kept in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses. During those days, Gingrich was a rarer presence due to a combination of longer driving time between debates, a less-intense approach, breaks for Christmas and New Year’s, and a bout of flu in the last weekend before the vote.

The difference is even starker given that Gingrich’s lower attention to the trail in Iowa contributed to his loss of the caucuses he was once expected to win, whereas the only question about first place in New Hampshire is by how much Romney is going to win it.

But New Hampshire is a platform to push a national campaign with the focus of the national media still trained on the candidates, spokesman R.C. Hammond said. Because of the state’s size, it’s easy to draw a large contingency of media to more events.

Gingrich has used the New Hampshire pulpit to launch a blistering attack on front-runner Mitt Romney. And on Monday morning, more than 70 reporters showed up to a town hall and press conference in Manchester, the kind of attention he hasn’t enjoyed on the campaign trail.

Gingrich sees the time spent in New Hampshire as a boost to his national campaign, particularly since C-SPAN has been recording and broadcasting some of his town hall events.